Another blog site

Hi everyone. Please be informed I have moved my blog from here to laurganism.com. The reason for this is because my old blog contains a lot of crap that I don’t want to remember or want to be remembered by. I suppose it was still cute when I was in high school and bitching about everything, or being incredibly stupid in putting my personal life out for the world to see. But my life is not public entertainment–and the same goes for my past. I want it gone, and I am getting rid of it.

Although nimrodel.net will still exist during the next six months or up until whenever my new blog builds up Google rating, I shall no longer be updating this site; my newer entries will be placed in laurganism.com. So go click and change your bookmarks and links.

laurganism.com

laurganism.com is my latest domain acquisition. It was created on August 16, 2005. It contains book, movie reviews, opinions, Filipino culture, and random weirdness.

Yay for Capitalism

During the summer when I was no longer a high school student and not yet a college student, I was still very much a moron. I was convinced that SM* was an evil evil place because Henry Sy only pays his workers a little above minimum wage, does not give them benefits, etc. Then I grew up (to some extent), adapted a capitalist world view and finally understood what Henry Sy does what he does.

This afternoon, I went to shop at Shoemart SM Makati for the first time since I chose to “boycott” it. The place was given a drastic makeover last year–the interior looks more cheerful and clean and the quality of the merchandise has improved by far. Although I have been there a couple of times, it was only to accompany my sister or my mother at the shoe or household department; I never really bought anything for myself there.

The only item in today’s shopping list was a tote bag but I ended up going to the women’s department and staying there for a good hour and a half. I always had the impression that SM catered to the masses and thus, the clothes they sold were cheap, low-quality stuff I wouldn’t be caught dead in. But to my surprise, I found a lot of great-looking tops way below my budget range (I never buy tops worth more than Php 500 or $10) that I immediately began grabbing stuff off the rack (in the end, the most expensive one I got only cost Php 350). Deeper into the womens’ department were dressier clothes, and I was very happy with the designs and prices of knee-grazing skirts they had. Although I was tempted to, I didn’t buy any because I felt a bit guilty about my unscheduled shopping spree. But I’ll definitely be grabbing a couple of them in the future since Pat’s always complaining about how short my skirts are.

I had to be very careful about the clothes I chose though, because the problem with affordable, mass-produced stuff is that everyone buys them. (The same holds true with any popular store here, I suppose.) In the end, I walked away with 3 collared button-up shirts, 3 sparkly hair scrunchies, a hot pink belt, and a white tote bag. Total amount spent: $27. In the States, 27 bucks would be like, one shirt (why did I ever go shopping there?). I was incredibly happy with my purchases and I couldn’t shut up about how much I want to go back again. Even if I were filthy rich I’d still insist on going to SM for my clothes. I don’t care for brand names; all I want is stuff that looks good on me without paying a ridiculous price for it. May the exploitation continue.

* SM is the biggest department store chain in the Philippines, owned by a Chinese business man named Henry Sy. (Think Walmart of the Philippines, except SM is so huge, it’s practically a mall in itself.) This business venture made the guy so rich, he has enough money to take care of the next four generations of Sys.